1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiver system for transmitting in-vivo information including in-vivo images transmitted from a capsule endoscope being located in a subject to a receiving device being outside of the living body via a plurality of wireless relay devices that are disposed on the outer surface of the living body.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of endoscopes, a capsule endoscope, which has a capsule-shaped casing enclosing therein an imaging function and a wireless communication function, has been introduced in recent years as an in-vivo image obtaining device for obtaining in-vivo images. A capsule endoscope is carried through internal organs such as stomach or small intestine by peristaltic motions and the like while capturing a series of in-vivo images of a subject, e.g., a patient, at a predetermined interval during a period from when the capsule endoscope is orally swallowed by the subject for the purpose of observation (examination) to when the endoscope is naturally excreted from the subject. The capsule endoscope sequentially transmits the in-vivo images thus captured (obtained) wirelessly.
A receiving device carried by the subject sequentially receives the in-vivo images transmitted by the capsule endoscope wirelessly. The receiving device includes a recording medium mounted on the receiving device in a removable manner, and stores a set of in-vivo images received from the capsule endoscope being located in the subject in the recording medium. The recording medium with the set of in-vivo images of the subject recorded therein is then removed from the receiving device, and mounted onto an image display device. The image display device obtains the set of in-vivo images of the subject via the storage medium, and displays the set of in-vivo images of the subject onto a display. Using an in-vivo image acquiring system including the capsule endoscope, the receiving device, and the image display device, a user such as a doctor or a nurse causes the set of in-vivo images captured by the capsule endoscope to be displayed onto the image display device to observe (examine) the interior of the internal organs of the subject through the set of in-vivo images.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-144417
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-53894
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-215957